Kyiv/Moscow, Oct 29 (EFE).- At least 19 people were killed in Russian drone strikes on three Ukrainian cities on Thursday, while Moscow said it had intercepted 1,214 Ukrainian drones across 19 regions, including 613 allegedly targeting the capital and its surroundings.
The attacks came as a humanitarian truce continued in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshki and surrounding areas in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, where arrangements were underway to deliver aid and evacuate civilians.
Russian strikes kill at least 19
Three Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian cities killed at least 19 people on Thursday, according to Ukrainian reports.
In Dnipro, in east-central Ukraine, a Russian strike on the city’s train station during daylight hours killed at least 14 people and injured the same number, according to the initial figures.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack as «atrocious» and criticized decisions by the United States and the European Union to ease certain sanctions against Russia.
The US recently lifted sanctions on Russian diesel, while the EU removed Russian businessmen Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from its sanctions list in September.
In the northern city of Chernihiv, another drone attack during peak hours killed two 15-year-old girls.
A third strike hit an apartment building in Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine, killing three people.
Moscow, other Russian regions targeted
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, air defenses shot down 1,214 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said most of the 613 drones directed at the capital and surrounding areas had been intercepted before reaching their targets, although three Moscow-area airports suspended operations for about two hours.
The Kremlin highlighted the scale of the reported attack as Moscow hosted the third Russia-Africa summit, a two-day event concluding Thursday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also referred to the humanitarian ceasefire in effect since Tuesday in Ukraine’s Kherson region, intended to facilitate aid deliveries and the evacuation of civilians wishing to leave the Russian-occupied town of Oleshki and surrounding areas.
«An (humanitarian) operation has been planned for these very days, today and tomorrow, with the support of the First Lady of the United States, specifically to provide assistance to the civilian population,» Putin said, crediting US first lady Melania Trump with helping secure the truce and organize the humanitarian operation.
Demining ahead of humanitarian operation
The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that sappers from the Dnieper military grouping were clearing routes leading to Oleshki, which Russian forces occupied in 2022.
«The roads adjacent to the city are being cleared of unexploded ordnance to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and the evacuation of civilians,» the Russian military said.
It claimed that most of the explosive devices and mines were of Western manufacture and had been deployed by Ukrainian drones.
Kyiv, meanwhile, has accused Moscow of laying mines that prevent supplies from reaching Oleshki and civilians from leaving the area.
Russia’s human rights commissioner, Yulia Lantratova, and her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Lubinets, traveled to the area Thursday to oversee the planned humanitarian operations. EFE
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